Chris Lombardi puts defense and security under the spotlight, as he shares his takes on recent NATO and EU cooperation and provides insight into the company’s own long-term strategic partnerships in Europe.

Three trends are currently driving the global electricity sector: decarbonization, decentralization and differentiation. Utilities are making significant contributions to mitigate carbon emissions, while a technology revolution is …

Polluter pays

Local government welcomes many of the amendments to the environmental liability directive introduced by the European Parliament in its first reading on 14 May. However, we remain concerned that the outcome does not sufficiently assert the polluter pays principle and we urge the Environment Council to return to the initial objective of holding polluters accountable – essential to prevent environmental damage.

The Parliament took a step in the right direction by deleting the provisions that would exempt all operators from liability on the basis of compliance with a permit or state of the art technology. Parliament’s proposal (in Article 10) to introduce permit exemptions, including a provision that would make local authorities directly liable, is still hugely problematic to local government. This provision would create considerable legal uncertainty and would place local government in an untenable position.

As guardians of both the local economy and environment, local authorities could be faced with the choice of having to issue very strict, narrow permits to prevent themselves from being exposed to too much risk (which could inhibit economic development), or to risk footing the bill for environmental damage if permits are less strict.

The Parliament’s strengthening of the financial security element to make it mandatory must be retained. This is fundamental to ensure that local government, and thus the tax-payer, does not continue to shoulder the cost burden of environmental damage if the polluter is unable to cover the costs of clean-up.